BIC TALKS

Priyamvada Gopal talks to Salil Tripathi about her latest book, Insurgent Empire: How rebellious slave colonies changed British attitudes to Empire (2019). Insurgent Empire shows how Britain's enslaved and colonial subjects were active agents in their own liberation. What is more, they shaped British ideas of freedom and emancipation back in the United Kingdom. Priyamvada Gopal is a Professor in t...

Kumar Sambhav from Land Conflict Watch talks to host Pavan Srinath about the trends, nature and root causes of land conflicts in India, with a special focus on urban growth and industrialisation.  Sambhav and Pavan discuss land conflicts that arise from infrastructure and real estate projects around cities, the routine bypassing of progressive land acquisition provisions, the lack of recognition o...

Author and writer Janaki Lenin shares tales from her latest book¸Every Creature Has a Story, with host Pavan Srinath. Janaki and Pavan discuss nature writing, the challenges of connecting readers to the strange lives of various creatures, the perils of imbuing animals with human tendences, and more.  Janaki Lenin is a freelance journalist, filmmaker, and conservation policy expert, and has written...

Economists S.L. Rao, Uma Kapila and Ravi Kanbur discuss the life and work of V.K.R.V. Rao. V.K.R.V. Rao (1908-1991) was an eminent Indian economist, politician and institution builder. Studying under John Maynard Keynes, Rao worked on some of the earliest estimates of India's national income statistics and published a range of important economic research on poverty, developmental economics, and ma...

Author Annie Zaidi and writer Poorna Swami discuss home, belonging, displacement and identity on Episode 35 of BIC Talks. Annie Zaidi won the Nine Dots Prize for 2019-20 by exploring the question, 'Is there still no place like home?' and published Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation in May 2020.  Annie and Poorna discuss how where people are born, where they live, what the...

Nandi Hills is a popular tourist destination for Bangaloreans. Siddharth Raja talks to Pavan Srinath about how the real history, heritage and the action is at the foot of the Nandi Hills rather than the top.  Siddharth walks listeners through the rich geological history, medieval history, the marvellous architecture of the Bhoganandishwara Temple and its surroundings, and shares glimpses of the pa...

Priya Ravichandran and Shruti Viswanathan explore the role of women in the Constitution making and nation building process on Episode 33 of BIC Talks.  Priya and Shruti explore the rise of political feminist consciousness in the Indian national movement, looking at the influence of global, and home grown, suffragette movements on the Indian independence movement. They also discuss the roles of ind...

Historian Richard Eaton talks to Prashant Keshavmurthy about his latest book, India and the Persianate Age: 1000 to 1765. Richard and Prashant discuss how the complex interaction, coexistence, and clash of Persian and Sanskritic worlds shaped the Indian subcontinent for nearly 800 years. They discuss how it was the linguistic and cultural spheres, and not just modern views of religions, that defin...

Trans rights activist Bittu and Tejas AP discuss the challenges faced by the Trans community in India, the politics and policies around trans rights and gender equity, and the quest for marginalised individuals to live a life of dignity. This is the second of 2 episodes on BIC Talks discussing trans rights, trans lives and the long road to true gender inclusion and equity in India. Previously on E...

Noted US Immigration Attorney Sheela Murthy talks to Strategic HR Advisor Hema Ravichandar on navigating the latest ban and restrictions of US Visas.  In June 2020, the Trump Administration used record unemployment figures in the United States of America to push through further Visa restrictions on H-1B, L-1, L-2 and various other visa categories. These visas as well as accompanying permits and au...

Pico Iyer talks to fellow author and journalist Samanth Subramaniam about his 32 years of living in Japan, learning from an ancient culture that remains hauntingly familiar and entirely impenetrable in the same breath. This is the second episode of BIC Talks as a part of the WorldLit series in collaboration with the Bangalore Literature Festival. In 2019, Iyer published twinned books about his ado...

Rahul Rao (@thariel) and Poorna Swami discuss whether cities, nations and communities should retain statues honouring 18th and 19th century slave traders and imperialists.  There are movements to bring down the statues of Confederate Generals in the United States of America, Colonial rulers in Europe, Gandhi in Africa. Rahul and Poorna explore if they are morally justified. If they are, where does...

Supreme Court Advocate Jayna Kothari and Tejas AP talk about trans rights, important legal judgments in India, the US and elsewhere in recent years, and the path towards gender equity and inclusion.  This is the first of two episodes hosted by Tejas on gender equity, and here Jayna unpacks the recent US Supreme judgment on LGBTQ workers' discrimination, the decriminalisation of Section 377 in Indi...

Aeronautical engineer and retired test pilot Joseph Thomas talks to host Pavan Srinath about aerial survey and mapping of the India-China border, about the evolution of mapping technology in the subcontinent, and about the longest contested border in the world.  Mr Thomas discusses how maps were drawn and land was measured between the 19 th century and today, the advent of aerial mapping in India,...

Evolutionary biologist and herpetologist Ishan Agarwal talks to host Pavan Srinath about discovering new species of geckos and other wildlife in India.  India's ecosystems and biodiversity are facing new threats every day, but dedicated researchers are finding large numbers of new species of lizards, frogs, insects and more in the last decade or two.  Ishan Agarwal has helped discover about 40 new...

Bestselling author Chetan Bhagat talks to Journalist Shrabonti Bagchi about the COVID-19 pandemic, his reactions to it as a writer, and about the future of books and publishing beyond 2020. This is the first podcast in a new WorldLit series, a collaboration between the Bangalore Literature Festival and the Bangalore International Centre. The BIC-BLF WorldLit series will feature podcast episodes he...

Did you know that ostriches originated in India, and co-existed with the first humans in the subcontinent? Or that early ancestors of whales and dolphins lived in the present-day Kutch and the Himalayas? Did you know that the granite countertop in your kitchen is likely two billion years old?  Pranay Lal returns to BIC Talks and regales host Pavan Srinath with numerous stories from India and the W...

Admiral Arun Prakash and Lieutenant General (Dr) Prakash Menon discuss the creation of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) position in India in 2019-2020, a reform idea that is even older than the Republic of India. The Admiral and the General discuss the history of the CDS story, how the idea got new life after the Kargil war, and what was finally implemented in 2019 and 2020. They also discuss the pa...

Author and scholar Harini Nagendra joins host Pavan Srinath and BIC's Raghu Tenkayala to discuss how to re-wild India's cities, for the World Environment Day episode of BIC Talks. The discussion moves beyond stale formulations of environment pitted versus development. The conversation centres around how urban jungles can also allow for nature in all its glory and 'wildness' to coexist and become a...

Oncologist Dr. Hari Menon talks to host Pavan Srinath about how treatable cancer is today, and a how cancer diagnosis is no longer always terminal.  Dr. Hari Menon is the director of hemato-oncology at Cytecare Cancer Hospital in Yelahanka, Bangalore. Previously, he was a Professor at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.  Don't miss filmmaker and theatre practitioner Ranjan Kamath's readings of his...

Author, environmentalist and biochemist Pranay Lal talks to host Pavan Srinath about the fascinating world of viruses, their natural history, their biology, and their role in maintaining human and global systems.  Humans have only discovered about 5,600 species of viruses till date, and a small number of them are known to cause lethal diseases in humans. During the COVID-19 epidemic, it is useful...

Medical Scientist Dr. Gagandeep Kang talks to host Pavan Srinath about ongoing drug development efforts against COVID-19. She discusses the challenges of developing antiviral medicines and lays out the unprecedented efforts taking place to test drugs old and new, against the novel Coronavirus.  In case you missed it, Dr. Kang was previously on Episode 8 of BIC Talks, 'A Quest for Immunity', to tal...

Indian Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao and Pakistani singer/writer Ali Sethi engage on the meaning of South Asian identity today. Is there a logic that makes for greater South Asian integration?   South Asia is an integer despite the political and security issues that create divergent narratives concerning the region. But there are numerous historical, cultural, ethnic and linguistic ties that link...

Raj Cherubal, CEO of Chennai Smart City Limited, talks to host Pavan Srinath and Ravichandar about his life as an outsider, now working in an executive role within government. Raj Cherubal is the first Smart City CEO who is not from the Government services. Raj shares what they have been able to accomplish so far, and situates the smart city programme within the larger governance system of a metro...

Arghya Sengupta from the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, talks to host Pavan Srinath about the Aarogya Setu app. He discusses how the Aarogya Setu ("Health Bridge" or "Bridge to Health") app works, how it can benefit health services as well as app users, its trade-offs on privacy, and how its use should be voluntary and not mandated by rules.  Aarogya Setu is a COVID-19 tracking app launched by the...